Glenn Danzig

Glenn Danzig is regarded by many as a forefather of punk and an innovator of metal.  As he releases his 9th Danzig album, we sit down with the legend to answer some fan's burning questions along with a handful of our own...

SHAKEFIRE: You talk about laying things out ahead of time like with the seven-album concept.  Have you started another concept process album-wise with “Circle Of Snakes” and Deth Red Sabaoth?
GLENN DANZIG: No. (Laughs).  Nope.  No no no.

SF: After having toured some with Johnny Kelly why is this album the first time you recorded with him?
GD: Well, he was supposed to record on the Circle of Snakes record but he left to go on a Type O (Negative) tour.  He ended up going to Europe or something, I forget where.  So I ended up using Bevin (Davies) who is actually doing this tour with us because Johnny left again to go to a Seventh Void tour in Europe.  But, I like playing with both of the guys so either guy is fine with me, they are both killer drummers. 

SF: In previous news when talk of Deth Red Sabaoth was announced, you mentioned one song in particular “Long Dark Road” this track however is not on the album….
GD: I never said that it was part of Deth Red Sabaoth, I just said I was recording a song that I wanted to record for a long time and never did.  It was never meant for Deth Red Sabaoth.  But, that’s the internet, you know?  People are just talking, this and that.

SF: Will fans get a chance to hear it in the future?
GD: Yeah, it doesn’t really fit any record.  It might fit the cover record, but then it’s not really a cover, because I wrote it.  I might just give it away on my website for free.  

SF: You mentioned wanting to do a cover album back in 2009 when you had more time…
GD: I’m thinking I’m going to do it soon.  I don’t know when but I wanted to do it before this little (tour) but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen so maybe I’ll do it in December or the New Year.

SF: Have you whittled the list down any to any ideal songs you would like to do?
GD: I have to see.  I have a long list of songs I want to do.  I’m going to do a couple of them and see how they come out and if they come out good, then I’ll start doing more. 

SF: Will there be anything that may surprise fans?
GD: There might be because there is going to be everything from nuggets type of stuff*.  So there’s going to be lots of that stuff.  There might be punk covers on there…it’s going to be all across the board.  There might be some early 70s metal kind of stuff that I’m just going to totally take and fuck up (laughs).

SF: You have found a way to mix your comic company Verotik and your music by releasing the Lyric book, is there any other colorations in the future?
GD: No, umm, it was kind of cool and I’m so happy that the fans are digging it because it really is for them, you know?  So, the comic company; me and Viz are doing a special Jaguar God thing that’s kind of like a story with illustrations. 

SF: There have been rumors and mentions about several movies you have your hand in. Are there any updates?
GD: We have some meetings with some animation studios for Satanika and I think I’m going to be doing some more meetings with studios here for the films stuff so we’ll see.

SF: Your music has been on Guitar Hero and numerous soundtracks including recently The Hangover. Out of all the requests you get how do you choose the right projects for you music?
GD: You just see what it’s about and if it’s any good or if it’s terrible, you know what I mean?  Pretty much, if it’s horror, it has to be REALLY bad for me to not put my stuff in it because I like horror movies (laughs). 

SF: Do you have anything else coming up along these lines?
GD: I think I’m doing a song for The Hangover 2.

SF: Is there any piece of your work that stands out the most to you?
GD: No, I like it all. 

SF: You are known to be a big horror/cult movie fan. Is there any movie you have discovered lately that just blew you away?
GD: No, it’s pretty bleak right now (laughs).  Nothing’s knocking me out.

SF: So many artists are having movies made about their lives, is this something we may see about you in the future?
GD: (Laughs) No, no no.

SF: Do you see yourself ever walking away from everything?
GD: Well, I don’t know about touring, you know?  Even though I found this way to do it, it’s kind of becoming less and less attractive to me.  I mean, I’ll always do records, but the touring thing is just really starting to be annoying.  So, I thought I could do it the way I’ve been doing it where I fly home and stuff but I don’t even know if I want to do that anymore. 

SF: It is said that you have a variety of collections from B movie posters, to rare Japanese toys. What is your most prized item out of your collections?
GD: I don’t know.  Ummm….I think I like my Devil’s Pride mask. (laughs).  It’s pretty cool.

SF: There has been mention of a desire to do a collaboration with Hank III, any word on that?
GD: No, we did some stuff together but his label will never let it get released. 

SF: Any chance of it “accidentally” getting released?
GD: I hope not!

SF: What was the recording process like for Deth Red Sabaoth?
GD: Basically, we cut the basic track and started overcutting all the other part of the vocals and stuff. 

SF: After recording so much over the years, has the process become easier or more difficult as technology changes?
GD:  It’s both (laughs). 

SF: Do you feel you are constantly learning new things in the studio or do you have a rhythm in the studio now that stays the same?
GD: Yeah, you are always learning something here or there and I like to experiment.

SF: It’s been said you are an avid reader. Which book or books do you feel enlightened you?
GD:  Which BOOK?  It’s probably more like BOOKS, there’s a ton of them.  You are just going to have to find your own path.

SF: It is said that at one point in your life you wanted to be a photographer, is this something you still do in your free time?
GD: Umm, no, I wish I had time to do it but I don’t.

SF: Will fans ever get to see any of your work?
GD: Yeah, well, I used to take pictures for The Misfits and Samhain.  A lot of the pictures you see on the covers, I took, like Samain Initium, some of The Misfits pictures..a lot of the stuff.

SF: Fans debate over what your song “Black Candy” is about from being about a woman, dark desires, drugs. Would you like to fill them in?
GD: (Laughs) A lot of different things. (Laughs).  It’s a metaphor for so many different things so they could be right and they could be wrong.  But it is about a lot of different things, not just one thing. 

SF: What would you like fans to take from Deth Red Sabaoth?
GD: Enjoy the record, you know, that’s it (Laughs).  You know, hopefully it will take them somewhere where they can forget about lots of different things. 

*In Danzig’s own words, “Nuggets” is “60’s pre-psychedelic underground garage-y stuff”.